Chapter 637: A bunch of monsters
*Bing-Bong*
The following chapter pertains to Zhen Liu’s cousins, how their own battles were fairing in comparison to his own and how all of this looked in the eyes of the experts above them.
While not mandatory, it should make for an entertaining read at least.
Additionally, while most of this chapter is in Tide Tongue, the indicators will not be used, but the language will be marked at the start of each scene.
Thank you.
…
So are you trying to stall for time, or…
|Honestly, I’m filling in plot holes I introduced earlier.|
Ah.
*Bing-Bong*
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An Observation from an Old Monster – Tide Tongue
“Well, I’ll be damned. I figured at this point, you two would be ripping each other’s throats out. Did something change?”
“I made a promise to my late wife that I would make amends, and I intend to keep it.”
“I was blackmailed by my younger sister…again.”
“I-wait, again?”
In a surprising repeat of yesterday’s event, the Zhen branch clan’s patriarch and the twenty-fourth Imperial Prince were sharing a skybox with the matriarch of the Zhen main clan. The elders, read: Zhen Shi’s sons, did not sit in the skybox this time around. They had decided to opt for seats closer to the front row in order to better cheer for their children. This in turn, gave Zhen Shi an opportunity to handle the 24th prince and the matriarch by his lonesome, without his sons hearing anything too scandalous and/or secretive. Granted, nothing had been said yet.
The three leaders watched the battles unfold in silence for a moment, giving Zhen Xun Tian to look over each of the arenas. Or to be more specific, she was paying attention to the ones containing the branch clan’s scions. AS she kept watching, a smile began to form on the old woman’s face.
“I must say Xiao Hai…I am impressed. Your descendants are proving to more than a match to my main branch’s disciples” Matriarch Zhen Sh openly praised. “Hell they’re even fighting off those vaunted geniuses like they’re no big deal in the slightest. My only complaint is that we couldn’t see all seven of your grandchildren fight at the same time. Congrats on those three getting into the final eight, by the way.”
“Thank you, matriarch,” Zhen Shi agreed with a thankful tone.
For some context, Zhen Guo, Zhen Feng and Zhen Tai had ended up in situations where, despite having lost a few matches, they still managed to win their respective blocks by virtue of having the most, regardless. Either way, Zhen Shi and the elders were proud at the scions’ accomplishments.
It did still feel a little weird to Zhen Shi though, that the Zhen Clan’s matriarch, a woman he had feared and respected throughout his childhood, was now praising him and his grandchildren. While in no means that he could outright claim all the credit, he could at least still free proud about his grandkids.
“That being all said though, I can’t help but think of your progeny as being little monsters in regards to their cultivation and I mean that in a good way. They’re a step beyond regular geniuses in my eyes.”
“Thank you…again…?”
“I actually do have some questions in regards to one of your grandchildren though,” Zhen Xun Tian continued, despite possibly insulting Zhen Shi’s family, “The Fourth Young Master, Zhen Liu, I believe? Is it true what the young folk are saying about him?”
“Huh? What about him?,” Zhen Shi asked while forcing a tone that was a touch friendlier than what he had in mind.
“Is it true what they say about him being crippled? Or was crippled? Actually, is he handicapped right now? Does he actually have no aether channels whatsoever?”
“Wait, what?”
The 24th Imperial Prince, Jinju Yang had been doing his best to ignore whatever this particular conversation was, but once he heard that the boy he had witnessed summon and control multiple puppets at this point had no aether channels, he was intrigued.
The moment this question got asked and was mentally registed by Zhen Shi though, he knew he was going to be here for a long, awkward while.
“Well…”
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Zhen Yue vs Zhen Ren Fa
<
‘Well, now I know why my cousins try to rile up their opponents during the fight. They talk less when they get angry,’ the aforementioned Zhen Yue thought to herself as she prepared to receive Zhen Ren Fa’s attack.
The moment the elder gave the signal for the fighting to start, the young mistress from the main clan had been all over Zhen Yue like ants on a carcass. Apparently, Zhen Ren Fa was still angry about how Zhen Yue and her cousins had interrupted her evening a few nights back, and was even angrier about being lied to in regards to their identity.
How dare a bunch of branch clan nobodies tell her what to do?
Either way, the two of them had exchanged several blows at this point, but those exchanges mostly consisted of her blocking or counterring Zhen Ren Fa’s attacks. Zhen Yue had managed to sneak one in offensive aether art during these exchanges, but Zhen Ren Fa had shown no sign of stopping whatsoever. In fact, she was getting more aggressive by the second.
[Punishing Tidal Finger!,] Zhen Ren Fa shouted as dense Aquarii aether gathered around her finger moments before she struck forward.
In response to this attack, Zhen Yue brought her hands together and formed a hand seal that caused an emblem shaped like a moonflower to manifest in front of her.
[Moonflower Seal!]
*CRACK! BOOM!*
“Now’s my chance! [Lunar Predator Cloak].”
Once the moonflower seal was completed, Zhen Yue had managed to launch it forward fast enough to force Zhen Ren Fa to block it and release a burst of bright, light aether that temporarily blinded everyone in the blast zone and some members of the audience as well.
“Gah! Stupid little-huh?”
By the time Zhen Ren Fa had recovered her sight, she realized that Zhen Yue had somehow disappeared. A feat that should’ve been impossible in a wide open arena such as this. Stranger still, she couldn’t sense where Zhen Yue was with her aether either.
“Where did that fake bitch go?,” Zhen Ren Fa muttered to herself as she tried to find Zhen Yue’s presence. The funny thing though, if she had just walked straight forward a couple more feet, she would’ve run right into Zhen Yue and broke her invisibility.
‘Okay, now that I’m hidden…what the fuck do I do now?’
~~~~~~~~~
Aether art name: Lunar Predator Cloak
Grade: Intermediate Ethereal
Description:
By making use of lunar aether, the user is able to cloak themselves in a manner that renders them invisible and undetectable by most normal methods. The drawback being that, like a nocturnal predator, the user has to remain completely still in order to maintain the cloak. Additionally, this art can only be used at night, or with someone who cultivates lunar aether.
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Zhen Xing vs Lei Zhong: Tide Tongue
[Cyan Lighting Blast!]
[Hazy Flame Dance!]
*BOOM!*
“HAH! YOU MISSED!”
“Why don’t you just stand still and die like a man already?!,” Lei Zhong shouted in anger while gearing up for another lighting attack.
“Why don’t you stop missing your fucking shots?!,” Zhen Xing shouted back.
The moment the signal to fight had begun, Lei Zhong had proceeded to launch lighting bolt after lighting bolt at Zhen Xing, in an attempt to electrocute the man into a blackened husk.
Unfortunately for him, Zhen Xing was significantly more nimble than he had anticipated.
The moment Lei Zhong started attacking, Zhen Xing activated this strange aether art the former had never seen before. Whatever this strange art was, it allows Zhen Xing to avoid every single attack of Lei Zhong’s so far and it was starting to get on his nerves.
It was bad enough that just a few days ago, this stupid fox-faced fire starter had stolen his property, but was now essentially mocking him with an interpretive dance number.
Long story short, at the start of this fight, Lei Zhong wanted to just horribly maim Zhen Xing. At this point though, he wanted to shove enough lighting down the man’s throat that he resembled a lighting blasted oak tree moreso than a human being…and he had just the aether art to do it.
“Seriously? You gonna hit me or-”
“Oh now that’s it!,” Lei Zhong growled as he began to condense his aether for another attack. Only time, instead of electricity sparking around his hands, the scent of ozone filled the air as a literal storm cloud began to manifest around him before ascending and expanding even more.
“I was saving this for the finals, but I’m fucking done with that. I want you dead!’
“Oh fuck…”
It took Zhen Xing all of a single second to realize that Lei Zhong was going for an AoE attack, and one that was more likely to hit him than the singular lighting bolts from before.
At least…it had a higher chance to anyways.
[Thunder Volley!]
At Lei Zhong’s command, a rain of thunderbolts and lighting fell from above.
